Nottingham will welcome a very important delivery from Europe this week -the beautiful Art Nouveau style Spiegel Tent. It will arrive in Nottingham on the evening of Wednesday 28 September, and construction will begin in the Old Market Square on Thursday 29 September.
By late afternoon on Friday, the Spiegel Tent will be ready for visitors and residents. A packed eight day programme of events will kick off on Saturday 1 October with a Circus Skills workshop, a free dance event to celebrate International Older Person’s Day, and a Prohibition Opening Party with live music from bands Fat Digester, Unknown Era and Bendigo.
See the full Spiegel Tent programme here. Along with the programme of events, people can also visit the Spiegel Tent daily 12 – 1pm and 5 – 6pm for food and drink from The Alley Café.
Visitors to the Spiegel Tent’s opening weekend on 1 and 2 October can also enjoy free entertainment around the city as the Independents Festival – with food, drink and live music, and the Canal Festival, take place.
On 8 and 9 October, a Spiegel Tent Sideshow Artisan Market along Smithy Row will showcase offerings from local independent businesses with stalls featuring crafts, vintage clothes and homewares, art and gifts.
The Spiegel Tent has been brought to Nottingham by Nottingham City Council as part of ‘October Festival’. With events like the Spiegel Tent, Goose Fair, Hockley Hustle, the Robin Hood Beer and Cider Festival, Mayhem Film Festival, GameCity and the Robin Hood Pageant, October is the perfect time to shine a spotlight on the city as a national visitor destination.
Funding has been made available as part of Nottingham City Council’s ‘Good to Great’ project aimed at boosting Nottingham’s visitor economy to over £1 billion.
Councillor Dave Trimble, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture at Nottingham City Council, said: “I’m so proud that Nottingham City Council has brought the Spiegel Tent back in Nottingham as part of the October Festival celebrations. It looks set to be a fantastic eight days of performances that I’m sure will bring lots of visitors to the city, boosting local businesses and showcasing our brilliant city.”
Paul Southby, Chairman of Marketing Nottingham & Nottinghamshire, said: “Nottingham’s October Festival provides an ideal opportunity to raise the profile of Nottingham as the UK’s leading festival city in the month of October. We are hoping to attract a record number of visitors this year and, with such a fantastic line-up of events within the Spiegel Tent, we are sure the programme will prove to be extremely popular.”
Spiegel Tent Information
- The full programme for the Spiegel Tent is available here, along with tickets for all events. Tickets for selected events are also available in Nottingham Tourism Centre on Smithy Row
A European Spiegel Tent is the ultimate cabaret, and music salon. Spiegel Tents are hand-hewn pavilions used as travelling dance halls and wine tasting marquees since the early 20th century. The hall of mirrors used to be the number one attraction at Belgian fairs.
Built from wood, cut mirrors, canvas, leaded glass, and detailed in velvet brocade, each has its own personality, style, and name – and there are only a handful of these unique and legendary tents left in the world.
Each Spiegel Tent is transported from venue to venue in shipping containers, and is constructed on site at each location. It consists of about 3,000 pieces of wood, mirrors, canvas and stained glass, and is then detailed in velvet and brocade.
Spiegel Tent stats
- The Spiegel Tent that will visit Nottingham is called the Salon Perdu
- Rich burgundy velvet draped ceiling
- Mirrored pillars around dance floor
- Stained glass windows above booths
- Exterior ‘ticket’ office
- Some period lighting
- Capacity – up to 450 people standing, Up to 250 people seated at tables